(a) As used in this Code section, the term:

(1) "Fuel costs" of a utility company means the cost of fuel as defined in the utility company's tariffs in effect on July 1, 1979, as such tariffs may be changed from time to time by order of the commission as provided by law.

(2) "Utility" means any retail supplier of electricity subject to the rate-making jurisdiction of the commission.

(b) No utility regulated by the commission shall automatically increase any customer's billing for intrastate utility services by reason of application of any fuel adjustment tariff. Rate changes based solely on increases or decreases in the cost of fuel may be determined as set forth in this Code section. Code Section 46-2-25 shall not apply to proceedings conducted pursuant to this Code section.

(c) On or before May 15, 1979, each utility shall file with the commission an estimate of fuel costs and an estimate of retail sales for the three calendar months beginning on July 1, 1979, and proposed base rate tariffs to recover those costs. Thereafter, a utility may change its base rates solely because of increased or decreased fuel costs only after filing with the commission an estimate of its fuel costs and retail sales for the next three consecutive calendar months and proposed base rates to recover those costs, adjusted as required by subsection (g) of this Code section.

(d) Not less than ten days after any such filings or after a commission show-cause order concerning such base rates, the commission shall conduct a public hearing on the information so filed for the purpose of determining its accuracy. The utility's testimony shall be under oath and shall, with any corrections thereto, constitute the utility's affirmative case. At any hearing conducted pursuant to this Code section, the burden of proof to show that an increased rate, based on fluctuations in fuel costs, is just and reasonable shall be upon the utility. Formal intervention by customers of the utility shall be permitted. The staff of the commission and formal intervenors shall have the right to examine all utility records used in the preparation of the testimony and exhibits of the utility, to cross-examine utility witnesses, and to present rebuttal testimony, subject to cross-examination by all parties.

(e) Following such hearing, the commission shall issue an order stating the base rates to be used by the utility during the next three consecutive calendar months, or until changed as provided in this Code section. Should the commission fail or refuse to issue such order by the forty-fifth day after the utility's filing, the base rates proposed by the utility shall thereupon be deemed adopted by operation of law.

(f) Each utility shall compute, record, and report to the commission monthly the most current data available showing the monthly and accumulated overrecovery or underrecovery of actual fuel costs resulting from application of its base rates.

(g) Each base rate amendment shall include an adjustment based on actual expense to date in order that the accumulated retail fuel costs of the utility shall equal, as nearly as possible, the revenues recovered pursuant to the fuel recovery allowance contained in its base rates. The resulting adjustment in the charge, if any, shall be made to the nearest 0.0001¢ per kilowatt hour.

(h) The commission shall disallow and make appropriate adjustment for any reported fuel cost that is the result of illegal or clearly imprudent conduct on the part of the utility.

(i) All commission orders issued pursuant to this Code section shall contain the commission's findings of fact and conclusions of law upon which the commission's action is based. Such order shall be deemed a final order subject to judicial review under Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act."

(j) The commission shall not prohibit or limit the operation of a rate schedule or other tariff of a utility to the extent that it permits rate increases or decreases to adjust for increased or decreased purchased power costs, where such increased or decreased purchased power costs shall have become effective under the procedures of a federal regulatory agency or under a contract approved by a federal regulatory agency. Any subsequent refunds received by any such utility with respect to any such increased purchased power costs which become effective under procedures of a federal regulatory agency, or otherwise, shall be refunded by the utility to its customers in the manner directed by the commission.

(k) In filing any estimate of fuel costs under subsection (c) of this Code section, each utility shall disclose the name and address of each person from whom the utility expects to purchase fuel or the transportation of fuel during the period covered by such estimate. Each such filing shall also disclose, when applicable, any financial interest the utility has in any firm or corporation expected to supply or transport fuel to the utility during the period covered by the estimate. It shall be the duty of the commission to make public at each public hearing held pursuant to subsection (d) of this Code section any information disclosed by a utility pursuant to the requirements of this subsection. It shall constitute a financial interest within the meaning of this subsection:

(1) For any member of the board of directors of the utility to be a member of the board of directors of a corporation supplying or transporting fuel to the utility;

(2) For any member of the board of directors of the utility to be the proprietor of or a partner in any business supplying or transporting fuel to the utility; or

(3) For any member of the board of directors of the utility, or for the utility itself, to own 10 percent or more of the stock of any corporation supplying or transporting fuel to the utility.